Did Theresa May Know ?

The big question of the the start of 2017 is did our Prime Minister Theresa May Know...about the Trident missile test ... or...Donald Trumps travel ban.

This is going to be very brief

A trident missile was tested and failed.
Isn't the point of a test to see if it works 100% correctly and if it doesn't you find out why and make changes? its not a school exam where the item tested is given a score against all others in its class. The missile was fired, didn't do what it should and now that learning is being used to make changes. This does not effect the debate that was had around out nuclear deterrent and so did it matter if Theresa May knew? I'm sure we have had other military equipment fail and then be improved which we are still purchasing.

Donald Trump Signs off Travel Ban.
I wrote about this earlier in the week and whilst i have thought about it and discussed it I still think the demonisation of people based on religion or nationality is wholly wrong. The reason I refer to it again is 2 fold, 1 so that we don't forget and take our eye off the ball allowing for a "security" measure to become a genocide, and 2 because its is now being asked "did Theresa May know?"
Yes she did, anyone and everyone who saw any of Donald Trumps pre-election propaganda knew of his intention. Yes there are still questions that need to be asked about it, its details, its purpose, it's execution  and its effects But the question of people knowing is a simple one, he said he was going to do it, he got elected into a position where he could do it an now we are having to get to grips with his actions.

I do hope there is a good outcome to both of these but i am worried that about the segregation of the global community by association.

Plastics in the ocean, Sky's Ocean Rescue Campaign

Last week saw Sky launch its campaign to reduce the amount of plastics washing into the oceans of the world. I will not repeat the info that sky has but i have posted the link below.

http://news.sky.com/video/why-should-you-take-part-in-sky-ocean-rescue-10740487

It was not too long ago I was thinking of the plastic bottle as a saviour in the world of litter picking an street cleansing, thy generally don't break up like a glass bottle and are less dangerous to collect etc, but this campaign has made me stop and think. In Tamworth for over a decade now we have collected plastic bottles in blue boxes or bins and sold on this recyclate to be spun and made into the fashionable fleeces worn on a cold day, we did this by the container load and the council generated a nice income. But this is clearly not the whole solution. not every bottle is recycled.

The sky campaign raises some interesting solutions such as bottle return deposits etc and this got me thinking. No one is reinventing the wheel here, there was always a deposit on glass bottles in the past and then in another true sense of recycling for a purpose and not recycling for the sake recycling we used to have glass milk bottles. I believe milk bottles are no longer make?
So following this thought I looked for a milk man in my area, apparently there are some but they come around in diesel powered chassis cabs! hold on what happened to the milk floats of the 1970's powered by batteries, remember the electric milk floats. So we used to have washable sterile reusable bottles moved around under nice clean electric vehicles and now in the 21st century we are producing more plastic in a decade than the whole of the 20th century and running milk floats on fossil fuels.

May be we should go old school and reintroduce reusable bottles and newer high tech batteries.

On a different note my initial reaction was to consider a trip to the beach to do a litter pick of plastic bottles before they drift out fill with water and sink.. . then I stopped and thought hold on all rivers and as in Nemo "all drains lead to the ocean" its our local parks rivers and streams that need cleansing before they end up in the sea.

So to conclude have a look at the Sky campaign lets all support it in any way we can whether in thought or deed,


I did find the below Youtube video interesting, its not going to solve the problem but it gives you something to do.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqGaRqjWICU

Trying to blog about The Donald

Wow they say a week is a long time in politics, the last 12-18 months have been that ram packed with headlines all of us have polarised to either extremely interested or lost all respect and interest in governance. Yet the headlines keep coming, check out one of this weeks offerings in President The Donald's mudslinging. The inaugration cake is a copy !

So what do I think of all this and what do I blog about?

The first week of his presidency is coming to an end but the protests aren't. I do have to say I wonder what his 10 year old makes of all this, the inaugaration and the support and protests.
      The american voting system has elected Donald Trump as the 45th USA President and there is nothing the 2 months of protesting can do about it, Donald Trump is the president of America. As I wrote at the time of his election in a similar way to the UK voting for Brexit the vote was for change and not for continuation of the norm. One thing that I still haven't quite worked out is the burning of the limo we all watched as the president was sworn in just around the corner, was this a display of power against the wealthy and elite? if so surely the same limo would have burnt if Clinton had won or was it jut vandalism with a convenient excuse?
    Donald Trump's campaign was for change and he pitched it in a tangible way the finest example the wall. To be honest I didn't actually believe he was 100% literal and serious. but hold on he was serious and it was not a metaphor for increased border controls he is deadly serious and has signed the orders.
      Before I comment on his executive orders I want to comment on the relationship The Donald is developing with the press and mass media, I have for a long time had concerns about the influence journalist can wield particularly when they allow their personal opinions to take objectivity out of their writing and the boundaries between an opinion column and reported news continues to blur, but I am not The Donald and I will not take on the whole press. I will however be watching closely to see how he continues to try and manage the media and their links to the establishment. This is going to be fascinating.

Right so executive orders,
You can not deny that Donald Trump has one what many politicians fail to do and that is act immediately, He made campaign promises and whilst I expected him to water these down , do U-turns or hope that some may be forgotten he has came out of the traps running and has started to deliver on his promises. so what have we had so far.
He has signed the papers to change the Obamacare health insurance, complete the trans continental oil pipe lines and withdrawn from the TPP. These alone can stimulate some huge debate as there are arguments on both sides but they are no where near the level of the two I've saved for last. If you thought the women's protests and inauguration protests were large enough as I type this the world is desperately trying to comprehend the impact of the executive orders to build wall along the Mexican boarder and as the protests begin again we all look and wonder what ill be the impact of his securing the US borders and what I would call the xenophobic racism of travel bans for certain people and nationalities.

To be honest compared with the last one the wall seems quite normal and sensible.

Today Donald Trump has allowed Islamic state terrorist a victory, he has allowed them to change the way the free world and in doing so he has punished many many innocent people.
I am willing to allow a bit of benefit of the doubt that he might just be putting down a marker and give himself some breathing space, but there are better ways of doing this, the US was not under immediate attack from these groups but a small number of terrorist hiding behind someone else's flag.
Islam is a religion and Muslims believe in there religion in the same way Christians and Sikhs do. but that doesn't mean they support the splinter group who are using Islam as an excuse to create terror for their own benefits.
The countries Trump has banned travel from do have majority Muslim populations but that doesn't mean every person is an IS fighter.
I could keep going but I wont. The bottom line is that any executive power that tries to deal with a problem by demonising particular groups based on nationality or belief system is completely wrong.
America came a long way during the civil rights movements of the 60's, 70's and 80's please don't let it slip back, We know there are still issues in the US but this is a massive step in the wrong direction for racism.

I am pretty much speechless by the travel ban.

Cheer up it's Blue Monday

This morning I woke up late and had to rush to get to work on time.
My first thought as I left the house was "oh it's still raining"

Little did I know until I turned the radio on that today was "Blue Monday", the most depressing day of the year apparently. Now I have got few things done this morning and I feel quite pleased with my achievement satisfied even but the mass media and social media are telling me I should be depresses. Well not telling me more making me feel alienate by not being depressed.

Yes the weather is grim outside, it is winter,  but I'm inside !  so that's not affecting me.

I thought I'd Google this day of depression and see whether it was born from a particular alignment of astronomical bodies playing havoc with or magnetic fields or aura or linked to ancient druid or pagan ritual or even earlier....

  NO of course its not !!!!

The third Monday in January has been known as blue Monday since ...2005 !!!! yes that date a long time ago when the world as very different place you remember before Donald Trump was elected, before Brexit entered our dictionaries. Facebook was less than a year old, Twitter was possibly conceived but had not been born,

And guess who or what type of company created it, Yes you've got it a Travel agent selling holidays. Sky Travel,

Yes i need to make a payment on my holiday. There are many many times throughout the year that I look out of the window and think I'd love to be out of this office and on a nice hot beach and those thoughts are generated by all sorts of things from the weather to a crappy email to just feeling tired, not because we've just had Christmas and now we are a bit skint. I think I wrote a blog entry about not pending too much at Christmas.

So what can I do to  resist the drive of a marketing ploy and now the mass media not to become depressed on blue Monday ?

First thing I have have to do is say every time I write blue Monday i think of the New Order tune Blue Monday, so I no have that playing in the background on Youtube as I write this. actually that has lifted my spirits.

   There we go get a 1980's disco going where ever you are, go on click the above link I dare you.

I often wonder how much the media guides and controls us as individuals.

I use the example often of the channel 4 program "Kill it Cook it Eat it". which i am sure was aimed at not educating but attempting to produce repulsion of the met industry, turned out it was quiet interesting and amazingly clean process. Then there was the horse meat scandal, was this about labelling or as this about eating leaner higher protein meat but judges by a couple of journalists and once the story gathered momentum others had a choice join in or be out in the cold. HOLD ONE I'm beginning to moan again , see its that bloody Blue Monday again.

I will acknowledge mentally those who are struggling with all sorts of challenges from wars to illness and when we talk of Blue Monday and feeling down remember those who are actually depressed ad have something to be down about.

Today I am going to do the things I need to, have a good day achieving things and organising the rest of the week being grateful for the good health and well being of my family and friends,

Enjoy..

I'm off to make a brew x

Days Out planning for 2017 in the Midlands

So a new year and time to look forward beyond the grey sky outside my window.

• This entry is not a rant or moan, it's just a commentary on my thoughts. 
• The prices are those published on line 09/01/07
• This entry does not compare like with like either
• I want to do all of these.

Some may know I have 7 children and so that's a family of 9 :)  and so a day out is not only a rarity and special event but also a test of logistics and planning. I wouldn't change it for the world.

The summer holiday is booked and we're looking forward to a return to Cornwall for the first time in 5 years having traveled round the uk.

So this year I have decided to create an excel sheet with the costs of days out and activities to do. To do this I have looked at prices for booking on line and tried to identify the cheapest way of doing it without any offers.

If all of 9 us do each activity once in 2017 the cost is £2238.69 , some of these will change as the year progresses and we miss-out on prices such as West midland Safari Park currently has a winter price etc. And there is a small repeat with Tamworth Snowdome as I have included the combi ticket as well as the individual prices.

each of attraction listed has a link to their website.

Attraction	Activity	Day out/single visit price for 9 of us
Alton Towers		£288.00
Drayton Manor Park		£260.00
Snow Dome	Combination  day ticket (tob, skate, swim)	£174.55
Go Ape		£174.00
Gullivers Kingdom		£127.60
West Midlands Safari		£127.00
Twycross Zoo		£126.60
Waterworld stoke		£122.49
Sealife centre B'ham		£102.00
Alton Towers waterpark		£102.00
Dudley Zoo		£94.00
Black Country Museum		£86.45
Jump Xtreme		£80.00
Snow Dome	Ice Skating	£78.75
Ash End Farm		£66.55
Snow Dome	Tobogganing	£61.25
Tiki Golf Star City		£48.20
Strykers		£47.00
Tamworth Castle		£46.50
Snow Dome	Swimming	£25.75
Wilnecote Leisure centre	Swimming, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday	£0.00
	total	£2,238.69

So the question is which ones do we not do and which ones are a must ?

Wow that was a tack and a half -

• I also wonder what I've done to get the individual prices for Snowdome activities cheaper than the combi ticket price, Ah yes I remember I used the age limits etc on different things to decide whether to include our 15 month old or not. 
• I have also had to apply some thought to other attraction such as at Gullivers Kingdom, is that child over 1.1m 
• Ash End Farm, would the 15 year be an adult ticket or would she want to have a bucket of feed
• Whats a junior and whats a student?
• Also why is Tamworth castle the only one that has 4 levels of charging, 2-4 years, 5-15 years, adult and concession? (I really should know this and will ask the question).

So lets say I can't afford or don't want to spend that much, what decisions do I make?

Alton Towers is the most expensive, but only £28 more than Drayton Manor and we have only been there once and Drayton Manor quite a few times. We like Drayton Manor and know our way around, plus there's the zoo, it's also local. Then Alton Towers has the bigger rides or the older kids. Big rides and a Brand Name, going to consider this one

Drayton Manor, I grew up here so remember it fondly, and some of my points are included above. wow this place has changed over the years but its a compact site with loads to do an queues are no where near that of Alton Towers, there seems to be more to do for the younger ones too with Thomas land, Personal view I prefer it to Ceebies land of Alton Towers but again that could be because its familiar. 

Gosh there's a big gap between the 2 big theme parks and the rest.

Snowdome combination ticket seems reasonable and we don't use this doorstep asset as often a we could. so at £174 its the 3rd most expensive, but I have 2 children under 5 and then the 8 year old will need escorting on the toboggan and i cant see an option to swap a session for something else. maybe have to make it up to the 2 littlest with a different treat another time.

Go Ape, Not done this but watched it a lot, under 10 years can't go so that excludes 3, the venue however at Cannock is at the same place as the Stickman walk 2016 and the Gruffalo sculpture, so the three little ones could do that and run around the woods. Hold on that means an adult will have to miss out and look after the little ones. some thought needs to go into this one. 

Now there's another drop down to the group of £127-£102, 

3 involve animals, 2 involve water and exercise and 1 is a theme park.

Gullivers Kingdom Matlock, I used to go there as a kid, Its aimed at 2-13 year olds So the eldest 2 are not target audience.  But I'm sure the older 2 can either dumb it down for the day or take pleasure in the fun their siblings are having, and there are things there such as the Blue John caverns (I might have made that bit up). There is a lot of walking up and down hill. Still it less than half the price other 2 theme parks, but has no big rides

West Midland Safari Park, firstly its the other side of Birmingham from me so a bit of travel and has the positive/negative of being close to the in-laws so a visit may be included. the prices on the website are the winter ones and do not include rides so its likely a drive around the animals in the frost or rain, still can get up close and personal to Africa's Big 5 oh an of course they had  baby rhino last year. I think this ticket includes a return trip (will have to check) so I might be able to go and then later in the year go again and pay for the rides element. If only I had included that in the budget pitch above. I've just though the little one sleeps in cars so may miss the good bit. Its always good to see animals wandering around semi open rather than in a cage

Twycross Zoo, Just up the road, when I was in my teens I used to cycle there with my mate and our sisters, Lots of  monkeys/primates, also getting seems to be constantly developing. it always seems to be either really hot or really cold wet and windy on the top of that hill, I suppose they cant do a lot about the weather, Its a good day out but a lot of walking an watching rather than interacting. Always fun to see people trying to communicate with the primates and them looking back with a facial expression that seems to express "don't you look a fool"

Waterworld, Never been guess the children would love it, comes in at the most expensive swimming activity on my list and its in stoke so a bit of travel up the M6, what if I forget my trunks,  Looks like fun on their website, and it would be a change. 

National Sealife Centre, always seems expensive for an aquarium but they all are so maybe its me that's wrong. It's in Birmingham city Centre so the kids get a ride on a train which for them is a novelty. I wanted to take my children there in October/November half term but on line the vouchers page wouldn't work so I didn't get to us my 50% off voucher and because I'm fickle I chose not to go at all last year. I do like the sealife centre and its all weather. Might even touch a starfish.

Alton Towers WaterPark, OOH this look interesting, just over £100 and a complex variation of ticket prices mean I think it can be quite cheap, Looks good and had the Branding of Alton Towers which I've always thought of as quality. again near stoke so its the M6 or a trip along the A50, one of the kids has been before and feed back well so could be worth a look. still it a swimming pool and I'm not sure everyone likes waterslides/flumes do they?

We are now sub £100

The first 2 are definitely days out and are what you make them, also next to each other

Dudley Zoo, not been there since I was a kid, My late Gran took a photo of a polar bear there I believe. Its the cheapest zoo on the list and has whats left of a castle to provide some variety for the day. The website also boasts some Techon architecture, personally not my thing all looks concretey maybe I should broaden my horizons? I wonder if they're developing n responding to the changing demands on zoo's?

Black country museum, that seems reasonable and i think that despite protests the children could really get into it, I used to love watching the blacksmith and then there was the tram and the old fair with the cake walk. I wonder if they are still there, at £86 it seems reasonable too, this one might be a goer. one of 2 museum on the list

Now we are into half day and 1 hour activities

Top one for short trip Jump Extreme  - 1 hour Trampolining, £80 for an hour !!! but that said i think an hour trampolining is going to be a killer and I think I will have had enough. I passed the planning permission on this place and its walking distance. again one that the little one cant o so its childcare or someone misses out. 

I'm not going to repeat what I have said about above the Snowdome individual activities but they can each stand alone as activities on my options list.

Ash End Farm . Now here we have the makings of a day out well at least half a day, Combined ticket so younger ones can feed and stroke animals then play in the play barn. Aside from the animals and the novelty of there's not a lot to keep the older ones engrossed, we went before Christmas an whilst it was fun once we'd moved from the farm to the play barn it was obvious that some were enjoying it more than others, not too bad though. And now I want to buy a goat as a pet. yeah this is fun and cheap, i could go a number of times for what same price as the bigger attractions, But how many times can a child look at farmyard animals before the excitement wears off, And I have found a Pygmy goat for sale for £75, it will keep my grass short so no need for a green bin?

Tiki Golf, This is fun and only 18 holes so not take too long but be long enough with a crowd of 9. Hold on not one for the littlest and I'm not sure my nerves will stand the bickering that will ensue, unless we tee off on different courses and split. Still not much change from £50 and near other in-laws so potential visit again, its one of those that's not quite a half day but certainly more than an hour activity.

Tamworth Castle, Interesting pricing structure, with the extra level for 2-4 year olds, I wonder what the impact would be of dropping the child age range down to 3 and letting upto 3's in free would be. Tamworth castle suffers from people not going twice "I've seen it once it hasn't changed". but we all forget stuff and now they have some of the hoard in there plus its cheap enough to go with the next item to make a day out locally castle then bowling. Still £46 and I've been there loads throughout my lifetime. 

Strykers Bowling £47 and a good hour of fun, but with bowling 1 game is not enough and with the MTV generation having grown up and been replaced with the tablet and phone generation 2 games is beyond attention spans, its different on the Wii you can pause it and wander off. so if i did the castle and Strykers its nearly £100 but its local and 2 different things, Variety is the spice of life after all. 

Of Course we till have free swimming at Wilnecote first come first served but this is going to be used this year I feel.

And there is what I call the Free Zoo !!! Planters Garden centre have loads of animals and fish and we always end up buying something so they get secondary spend. yep this one will be frequented too 

So what do I spend my wages on ? 

I think I'm going to have to be savvy with offers and keep my eyes open for vouchers and deals, I want to do all of them but not sure I can afford to spend that much.  Its ll about budgeting, so its less takeaways and look to save for some days out. I really want to do all of them!

If nothing else this thought process has given me some insight to the competition of the leisure industry,

 Which ones will get my cash? What will seal the deal? Who will benefit from secondary spend?

2016 the end of a roller coaster ride

     There are many reviews published at the end of each year and this is yet another, hopefully this will be slightly different but probably not.

Many will say that 2016 was a horrible year with the loss of so many celebrities etc whilst others will say its fantastic because of unlikely events like Leicester winning the premiership and the medal haul brought back from Rio. What I think is 2016 changed the world and will have an impact for many years to come.

just touching on some of the year's events,

Brexit - the people of the United Kingdom voted for a myriad of reasons to leave the EU, for some it was about sovereignty of decisions, for some it was immigration, for some it was about spending on services to be honest now the reasons for people voting are somewhat irrelevant as we will be leaving the EU. 2017 will be the year that Great Britain starts the leaving process and the media will be full of "We don't want a Hard Brexit" as if we are on both sides of the negotiating table..
 Despite all that this single event will change the way we all live in the Uk and has began a new epoch of excitement and adventure.

USA Election - Well if you want to be schooled in electioneering there are a few people in recent history to look at, there's Ken Livingstone who showed us how to galvanise the minority voters and now there's a new kid on the block, Donald Trump. Now that was a lesson in electioneering, As I've said before he appealed to every insecurity possible in almost the complete opposite way to Obama who went along the Livingston method when elected.
    Donald Trump has some interesting things going on, he has a different approach and is even friends with Putin, Farage and Piers Morgan. Trump is the one to watch for excitement and more change, link this with Brexit and we have a recipe that will certainly herald changes.

Both of the 2 above events showed a shift in public desire and can be passed off by a number of excuses but the one thing that Farage and Trump managed to achieve was to send a message to all politicians that its time to reconnect with the populace. I think this message may need to be spread wider with the financial sector and media often writing the narrative whilst the normal person wanders round nervous.

Rio Olympics - another Olympic games that started with speculation as to whether the venues will be ready and health scares, then of course there was the the Russian Doping scandal. For Team GB this games and paralympics was a fantastic success and will build of the 2012 legacy.
  The opportunity that sporting success brings us is to make our sport hero's not only household names but true inspirations and for me there have been a few events that 2016 has brought us which show our athletes need care a nurturing outside the training and performance in their events. here I refer to use of social media as well as supporting grass routes and remembering the journey they have been on and support others in theirs. many athletes are simply not media savvy and they must be helped to not only achieve their sporting best but also the inspirational pedestal that others will aim for.

Who will win the F1 championship this year ? New Cars, no Nico, hm mm... I'm still saying a red bull shock may be worth a bet.

New Pound Coin - wow 12 sided coin with a hologram, this is an exciting prospect for 2017, I remember the pound note going and the pound coin coming in. One of the soap powder companies ran a promotion in which you could get a framed £1 note, I wonder how many people with still have that?

so to conclude. all of the above have given exciting opportunities for 2017 so what should we do. My thoughts are simple, lets try to be nice. I have a rant stored about prejudice but that can wait until another day for now but we should all take the first day of the year and think what do my actions thoughts and comments mean and where did they come from?

enjoy 2017 go out a grab it with both hands and make it happen.